Australian Josh Brookes will remain with the TAS Racing team for the 2012 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship after confirming today (Monday) that the title-contending Suzuki team will feature a new look with Tyco sponsorship for the new season.
Brookes finished runner-up in the 2010 season with HM Plant Honda before he joined Phillip Neil’s team for 2011 onboard the Suzuki, claiming two victories, a further four podium finishes and secured pole for the final round of the year at Brands Hatch. Brookes was a Title Fighter in the Showdown for a second consecutive season and continues to target a maiden BSB title for the team who have successfully won both the British Supersport Championship and National Superstock Championships.
Brookes said: “I thought I was heading home for the Australian summer for four months but I’m happy to be back in the UK for a few days to re-sign for TAS Racing. I love the new look of the bike in Tyco Suzuki colours and there’s no better place to get the whole season going again than the NEC bike show. It took us a while to get things to click last season, but when it did we proved how good a package we are together, so I’m looking forward to taking that to the next level in 2012. I really enjoy working with the boys at TAS and I love the Northern Ireland lifestyle – so at least there will be no surprises when I return to start the season. The goal as always is to win the championship and I really believe we can hit the ground running and do the business from round one in April. I’m looking forward to it.”
Team Manager Philip Neill concluded: “Our aim this year with a two rider team in BSB is to target the championship, and we believe re-signing Josh as our headline rider is a good start in making that a realistic target. He showed us glimpses of brilliance this year with his race wins and some superb lap times. It’s fair to say it probably took us a bit longer than we anticipated to get to know each other, and for Josh to gel with the TAS Racing GSX-R1000 Superbike – so a second year together was always going to be beneficial. It’s good to get the deal finalised and great to have Josh back onboard. Now we need to concentrate on getting him a team-mate to complete the line-up.”
